Another interesting day of futbol took place all over South Africa today.  Paraguay took on Slovakia, Italy faced New Zealand and the Brazilians faced Cote d'Ivoire.  The saga continues.  On to the reviews.

Italy v New Zealand

After a first round of games that saw most teams being understandably cautious I hoped we would see the defending champions come out gunning to secure three points against 78th ranked New Zealand.  Wait, I momentarily forgot that we are talking about Italy.   New Zealand's Shane Smeltz opens up the scoring in the 6th minute to give them a shock lead.  Daniele De Rossi DIVES in the box (yeah I said it) and earns the Azzuri a penalty that is tucked away by Vincenzo Iaquinta in the 28th minute.  1-1 draw.  After the second round of play the Italians are tied for second place with two points.  A dismal showing by the current World Champions.

Paraguay v Slovakia

I didn't wake up in time to catch this game (working late sucks especially during the World Cup).  It ended 2-0 with Paraguay sitting at the top of Group F with 4 points.  Enrique Vera opens up the scoring in the 26th minute to put Paraguay ahead.  Cristian Riveros secures the 3 points in the 85th minute from an assist by Paulo da Silva.

Cote d'Ivoire v Brazil

This is probably the game the whole world was looking forward to.  Why? The strongest African side versus the Brazilians.  The stage was set for a game of epic proportions.  And it did not disappoint.  Except for the hideous, suffocatingly-tight jerseys donned by the Elephants.  But this isn't a fashion blog, so onto actual futbol commentary.  For the first twenty minutes I was very proud of the Elephants for holding onto the ball and more or less controlling the tempo of the game and pressing forward.  Unfortunately, my pride took a massive hit in the 24th minute when Luiz Fabiano decided that it was a good idea to score his first goal in a World Cup against the Ivory Coast.  The build up play was beautiful one touch futbol between Fabiano and Kaka to set up the goal.

Three minutes into the second half Fabiano, with his confidence peaking, scores a pretty nice goal that was preceded by what is, perhaps, the greatest display of patty cake ever.  In real time the goal was exceptional.  He made the Ivory Coast defense look like a volleyball net and then places the ball on his left food to guide it past Boubacar Barry.  However, thanks to the super duper slow-mo instant replay fancied by ESPN/ABC in this World Cup, it becomes evident that Fabiano's first touch was with his left arm and his "chest" touch to control the ball right before he fires it home was indeed his right bicep.  Rubbish.  What infuriated me the more, thanks again to the super slow mo, was the referee jogging back with Fabiano after the goal and touching his left bicep and smiling with Fabiano presumably saying "I saw your handball, but sick goal bro! I wasn't gonna disallow that!" Despicable.

Dindane is taken off and Gervinho comes on.  Why? After his exceptional display against Portugal in the first round of play why did he start their most important game on the bench?? I am seriously appalled at some of the decision making in regards to African sides so far.  The better players are either not played or are brought on when it is a little bit too late. Anyhow, the difference is immediately evident.  Gervinho presses forward and cuts through the Brazilian defense, but again the finish is just not there.  Then the lesson in Joga Bonito is completed by Kaka's beautiful pass into the box that Elano catches with his left foot and slices it past Barry to put the Brazilians up 3-0.  Game over.  Didier Drogba was a non-factor in this game until his header in the 78th minute from a beautiful cross from Yaya Toure.  It was a beautiful finish and I won't rag on Drogba too much.  It's tough playing with a broken arm.  I commend him for playing the entire game.

The fight.

We need to address (we meaning futbol fans and lovers of the sport and FIFA and the players) the issue of diving and hideous acting in futbol.  It's horrible and it's a disgrace.  You bump into Kaka, who's clearly just guarding himself, he hits you in the chest and you fall to the floor clutching your face. Stop it.  Perhaps the holiest and well-mannered player in all of futbol gets sent off for a bogus challenge. Why not give the diver a card?  It's all over though, the Brazilians already had the game in the bag and now Ivory Coast find themselves with only one point after two games.  Keep the faith boys, hopefully Portugal can draw agaisnt North Korea, get obliterated by Brazil and you can defeat the North Koreans.  I highly doubt it will happen like that, but again, you never know.

Enjoy the games.  The saga begins again tomorrow morning with Portugal taking on North Korea.  Thank you all for reading, drop a comment if you will or catch us on twitter: @LiveBrtheFutbol rambling on about futbol and other uselessness.  Until next time, joga bonito!!

Today is a great day for futbol in the World Cup. Argentina took on S. Korea; Nigeria took on Greece and Les Bleus will face the Mexicans in a short while.

Finally, thanks to Gonzalo the Great, we get to see some goals in this World Cup.   If you didn't catch the game, Real Madrid's wonder boy scored a hat trick against South Korea and became only the first to do so since Pauleta of Portugal did the same against Poland in 2002.  Of course everyone is still waiting for Leo Messi to find the back of the net, but he has done a tremendous job of making the opposition very nervous and has created plenty of opportunities for his teammates.  There isn't much else to say about this game. Let's go on to the dismal display put on by the Nigerian Eagles (there certainly was nothing "super" about the way they played today) against Greece.

Greece had never, that's right, NEVER won a World Cup game prior to this match against Nigeria. The Greeks had no clue what it means to leave a World Cup match with 3 points in the bag until Sani Kaita decided to display what is possibly the greatest fail of epic proportions.  Out of frustration, he "kicks" Torosidis with the referee having a clear view of the incident.  First of all, if you are going to lash out like that, at the very least make sure your kick/punch or whatever connects.  Secondly, be certain that the referee has his back turned. Or, since your team is up 1-0 and you have the psychological advantage over a team that has never won a World Cup match and is coming from a  2-0 defeat to South Korea, you maintain your composure and play the game.  Not Sani Kaita. He gets a red card in the 33' minute and forces Nigeria to play for another hour down a man.

The Greeks, as any other team with common sense would, take advantage of this fact and begin to mount the pressure on the weak Nigerian defense.  Victor Enyeama, who had 6 huge saves in the game against Argentina, comes up huge for Nigeria and records 9 saves.  Enyeama is world class, there is no doubt about that, but a goalie should never have to make that many saves against any team.  The Nigerian defenders towered over the Greek, but gave them way too much space.  Dimitrios Salpingidis took advantage of this and takes a shot that deflected off Haruna's bright yellow boots and into the back of the net.  Had Nigeria been able to hang on to their 1-0 lead until half time, the result may have been different.

A rare error from Victor Enyeama saw Torosidis tuck Jabulani neatly in the back of the net to give Greece a much deserved lead.  Prior to this Nigeria had a textbook breakaway that should have resulted in nothing more than a goal.  Yakubu (I believe it was) misses as Tzorvas pushes it wide with his left hand into the path of Obasi who could not finish. My question is/was: Why was Obafemi Martins not in this game?? If you need goals, which Nigeria desperately needed in this game, he's your guy.  Had Nigeria scored there, the game would have changed again, but from then on it was all Greece.  Greatly disappointed by the Nigerians today.  As always, the games go on and I'm looking forward to France vs. Mexico in about an hour. Enjoy.

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Wow. You are probably as shocked as I am at the result of the Spain v. Switzerland game that ended just over an hour ago. The Spaniards came out well organized with a great deal of attacking flair from David Villa and a great chance from Gerard Pique. The Spaniards, made up of 7 FC Barcelona first team members played a very similar passing and attacking style similar to the one played by the Catalan Giants, but that proved to be very ineffective against a well organized Swiss defense.  The Spaniards were forced to take long range shots and it seemed, from the many shots that went far wide and over the bar, that they still aren't used to "Jabulani".  Xabi Alonso came the closest with a stinger of a shot that hit the crossbar.

The Swiss' patience paid off in the 52nd minute when the African-born Gelson Fernandes scored to put them in front after Iker Casillas came out to stop the attack.  I'm pleased with the result because it makes the games a bit more interesting.  The Spaniards, on paper, have quite possibly the best team in the world and most people picked them to win the entire tournament.  However, history tells us that no team has lost their first game and gone on to win the World Cup. We'll see what happens. As ESPN's World Cup tagline goes, One Game Changes Everything.

Now: South Africa v Uruguay. I'm looking forward to a great game. I really hope the Bafana Bafana can squeeze out a victory in this one, but I'm also expecting a great showing from Diego Forlan. Enjoy.

Friday marked the beginning of the World Cup of epic proportions: the first to be held on African soil.  It was certainly a special moment when the man with the coolest name ever (Siphiwe Tshabalala) scored a cracker with his left foot to christen the goal net in South Africa. It would've been even more special if Mphela scored his last minute opportunity, but a draw was certainly not the worst result ever.  Enjoy the games and keep checking back for more World Cup news and t-shirts! Viva Futbol!

 So the World Cup is just four days away or 96 hours! And I know we've been promising that the World Cup designs are coming and guess what? They are here!!!  Enjoy!

This second design is a bit more cut throat and will only be released as a print/poster and not a t-shirt.  It basically expresses the final outcome of the World Cup: 31 losers and One winner.  This is not yet available in the store, but will be in a few hours.

Feedback is encouraged and greatly appreciated, so if you're not in too much of a hurry, please shoot us a comment. Thanks
Twitter: @LiveBrtheFutbol

Hey guys, some exciting stuff going on here at LIVE BREATHE FUTBOL. As you are probably aware, directing your browser to http://livebreathefutbol.com takes you to to a page that displays our awesome new logo and a link here (the blog).  Hope you guys like it.  We were going for something classic. Something timeless that shows the essence of futbol, and what better than a crest?! True soccer heads may be able to see where the inspiration comes from, but I'll be quiet about that.

Anyway, things will be changing a lot over the coming week. The website is currently undergoing a massive overhaul and new products will be launching soon. So please bare with us. We appreciate all the support.

P.S. the website will be FULLY launched the same time as kick-off of the first World Cup game between South Africa and Mexico! Exciting stuff!

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